


More Than a Name

by suddenlycomics



Category: Transformers: Prime, Transformers: Shattered Glass
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-26
Updated: 2014-10-26
Packaged: 2018-02-22 16:23:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2514203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suddenlycomics/pseuds/suddenlycomics
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a mission goes wrong, Starscream is forced to explore some harsh truths about himself and his views on the Vehicons under his command.</p>
            </blockquote>





	More Than a Name

“Sir…I found him! Guys help me out!” 

Starscream willed his optics open only to forcefully them shut again as every sensor he possessed flared with pain. Worse was the horrifying realization he couldn’t move as something heavy threatened to crush him. 

“We got you, sir. Stay with me.” 

Once again Starscream, opened his optics but forced himself not to close them again when another wave of pain bloomed across his body. Two Vehicons were struggling to lift the pillar on top of him. Unbidden, memories of a wayward rocket careening towards their formation flashed in his processor. In his haste to ensure his squadron scattered to safety, someone had taken advantage of that distraction and shot him into building. 

Not exactly a moment befitting the second in command of the Decepticons. 

He decided to focus on the Vehicon immediately in front of him, studying them closely. Starscream had made it a point to learn to tell them apart (because if Breakdown could do it, it couldn’t be that hard) and recognized this one as Clipper when he saw the distinctive scratches on the other bot’s wings. Before Starscream could say anything, he felt the enormous weight on top of him lessen slightly. In an instant, Clipper hauled him from underneath just before the other two Vehicons lost their grip and the pillar slammed against where he had been moments before. 

Starscream vented, tasting Energon as he did and grimacing. 

“Are you-” 

“I’ll manage.” Starscream interrupted Clipper tersely. “We need to move immediately, we’re too close-” 

Starscream stopped, wings shots up as he heard the sound of motors in the distance grow louder. 

“The three of you leave now!” Starscream hissed, straining to stand up. He took a step forward only to fall back, Divebomb catching him. 

“You’re in no condition to fight, Air Commander.” She said, her deep voice usually filled with confidence sounded conflicted. “You’d be captured or killed!” 

“There is no sense in all of us suffering that fate, is there?” Starscream snapped back as he struggled to stand free of her grip. 

“I agree, there is no sense in that,” Clipper said, wings folding tight against his back as he turned his back towards them. “I’ll give you all a distraction, take him and go.” 

“Clipper! I gave an order!” Starscream yelled as the sounds of motors were coming in dangerously close. Clipper’s wings rose as he turned around, visor glowing softly in what Starscream had learned to recognize as the equivalent of a smile. 

“That’s the first time you’ve called me my name outside of formation, sir,” Clipper said, visor dimming as he tilted his head. “The funny thing about being allowed to have free will is I can decide not to do what I’m told. Stratus, Divebomb, get him out of here!” Not giving Starscream or anyone else the chance to argue, Clipper transformed and soared into the sky. 

As Stratus and Divebomb pulled Starscream along, he could hear the sounds of the motors growing more distant and joined by a cacophony of gunfire. A large blast shook the ground, causing Starscream to lose his balance again. The two Vehicons stopped, looking to each other before Stratus grabbed him and flung him over their shoulder. 

“No time for dignity today!” Stratus shouted as they started running, with Divebomb following close behind. 

By that point, Starscream couldn’t even bring himself to protest. 

Next time Starscream was fully aware of his surroundings, he was in the medical bay hooked up to all sorts of devices. One of the Vehicon medics… Avi, Starscream remembered, was looking at the vitals of a nearby patient. 

“You’re awake!” Knock Out said, stopping by Starscream’s medical berth. “And Flatline said you probably wouldn’t be awake for a few more solar cycles. He certainly lost that bet.” 

“Never mind that,” Starscream insisted, disappointed his voice carried none of the authority he wanted it to. “How many of my squadron were picked up with me.” 

“Only two were picked up with you. The rest were able to fly back on their own according to schedule,” Knock Out replied, looking at his datapad. 

“Names! What were their names?” Starscream demanded despite knowing the answer. 

“Stratus and Divebomb,” He replied, raising an eyebrow when Starscream laughed bitterly. 

“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Clipper made his choice despite my orders,” Starscream said, speaking faster. “Not that I wanted to lose anyone else instead but I was foolish enough to hope-” 

Knock Out placed his hand on Starscream’s hand, effectively silencing him. 

“Stratus explained what happened.” He said moving his hand away. “You’ve lost people under your command before. You wouldn’t be cut out for leading if you let everything get to you but it’s the sacrifice that bothers you.” 

“Wh-how?!” Starscream blustered and Knock Out grinned. 

“Happened to Breakdown too. He needed someone to talk with to get all his feelings off his chest. Considering the size of that chest, we covered quite a lot.” Knock Out said, amused as Starscream huffed. 

“A scouting party is currently doing a sweep of the area where the skirmish happened. Maybe Clipper or the other missing grounder Vehicons will turn up,” Knock Out continued, before pressing a button on the console next to Starscream’s berth. “Best thing you can do right now is rest.” 

Starscream crossed his arms in reply before Knock Out moved onto the next patient. He didn’t have long to sulk before he felt a wave of drowsiness begin to pull him under. 

“Knock Out…how…dare…” 

“Like I said,” Knock Out said, “the best thing you can do is rest. Doctor’s orders.” 

\- 

“It’s like they’re just gone,” Cloud Mantis said, the fellow seeker’s optics betraying her working at the puzzle as she delivered the information. 

“Shot apart you mean,” Slipstream said, only to be met by a furious shaking of the other seeker’s head. 

“I say what I mean,” Cloud Mantis replied. “When I say gone, I mean they’re not there. Dead or alive, they’re not on that battlefield unless I was misinformed about weapons used during the skirmish. Barring weapons capable of complete vaporization, I’d be able to identify them by the remains, no matter how little. Nothing gets past my optics.” 

“How many Vehicons _exactly_ are missing?” Starscream said, preemptively cutting off Slipstream’s question of how Cloud Mantis could know. Cloud Mantis loved to talk and Starscream had no intention of sitting through Cloud Mantis’s explanation _again_ of how she could see colors you’d never imagine and everything else her optics could do. Cloud Mantis looked disappointed momentarily before pressing on. 

“Casualties were thankfully few: three grounders. Only one was a Vehicon. I feel that’s important to note with what’s coming up next,” Cloud Mantis said, keeping track of her points on her digits. “The missing tally is greater at seven grounder troops. It becomes eight with the flier under your command. All of them were Vehicons.” 

“I thought Autobots had a kill on sight policy for Vehicons,” Slipstream said, looking over to Starscream. “Certainly wouldn’t be good for their cover story is someone with a conscience talked to one and found out the truth.” 

“It would appear that may have changed,” Starscream said, with a mulling hum. “Cloud Mantis prepare report for Soundwave. If this is a change in policy, he may already have similar reports.” 

“It’ll be done right away,” Cloud Mantis said, turning to leave when the monitor near Starscream flickered to life. Starscream frowned as he saw the clearance level on the message. Slipstream noticed too, looking over his wing to get a better look. When she noticed Starscream looking at her, Slipstream rolled her optics. 

“Not enough clearance, I get it,” Slipstream said, waving him off. “You, come with me.” She motioned for Cloud Mantis to follow her and they exited quickly. As soon as he was alone, he made sure the doors were locked before opening the communication channel. 

“I’m glad I got through, I didn’t want to leave a message,” The heavily distorted voice said. Despite the filtering, Starscream recognized speaker by the frequency of the message. He had met this double agent only once at the beginning of the war: a femme with yellow eyes and determination to stop the Autobots so strong the closest thing Starscream had seen to it was a wildfire on an organic planet. 

“It must be important,” Starscream replied, she hadn’t contacted anyone in a while but they both knew better than mention such specifics on this line. 

“I believe so,” She continued, although there was a pause before she spoke again. “An order went out to prioritize capturing Vehicons alive. Not everywhere, it’s a localized command.” The “near you” part didn’t need to be said. 

“What are they doing with them?” Starscream demanded, gripping the edge of the console. 

“Nothing good, I’d imagine. There is a facility where they’re being sent with some rather scary names attached but I couldn’t get any more information,” she explained and he was pretty sure he could hear her frown. 

“And the location?” Starscream said. 

“There should be something picked up on that very soon. Not everyone is as careful as they should be,” she said. Starscream expected her to hang up but she spoke again. “So, the rumors, they’re true aren’t they? The Vechicons didn’t defect because of a virus, they’re sentient.” 

“Just as much as you and me.” Starscream said without hesitation. 

“Be ready,” she replied and the line went dead. As soon as it did, Starscream changed the frequency to Slipstream’s. 

“Slipstream, prepare my squadron to be ready to take off at my command.” 

\- 

As expected, they intercepted a poorly encrypted Autobot message soon after their double agent’s message. With that, Soundwave was able to trace the message back to the facility. It was well hidden, tucked in area of naturally occurring metal spires that reached into the air as though they would rip through the sky. Without the coordinates, it would have been impossible to spot from the air and nigh impossible to take from the ground. 

Which would probably account for why the base was so easy to take. The Autobots had scrambled to counter the attack but the response reflected their assumption that the base would never be found. It wasn’t long before Starscream was walking down the cellblock, doing a quick headcount, as Circuit worked on the power to the cells. 

“You came for us?” One of the Vehicons said. “We didn’t think anyone would come for us.” 

“You are Decepticons.” Starscream said, placing his hands behind his back. “You’re not disposable.” 

The Vehicons murmured among themselves as Starscream frowned at the number of Vehicons present. There were close to twenty, undoubtedly captured from other battles and all brought here. 

Clipper was not among them. 

“Which one of you is the highest ranking officer?” Starscream asked and one of the tanks raised their hands. 

“Hull, I was second in command of my ground assault unit-well now first in command,” she said, voice shaky. “What is left of my unit was brought in a deca-cycle ago. They’ve been taking us from the cell block. There doesn’t seem to be any pattern to who gets taken but they never come back. There was a Seeker here within the past megacycle but he wasn’t here very long before they took him.” 

Starscream’s wings pressed against his back at that before the power to the cellblock went off. 

“There we go!” Circuit said, standing up and stretching. “I also turned off the power to the doors and security measures of that locked room ahead. Nothing I couldn’t handle.” 

“Circuit, see to them,” Starscream commanded, motioning to the Vehicons before he stalked towards the doors ahead. He forced the doors open before aiming his weapons into the dark room. Despite the darkness, Starscream made out a table in the center of the room and the unmistakable silhouette of a Seeker strapped down to it. He did one more visual sweep of the room before rushing to the table. As he came close, Clippers’s visor illuminated weakly, following Starscream as he came closer. 

“Clipper, I-ah- suppose in light of the circumstances we can put off that lecture on disobeying orders. Are you alright?” Starscream said, looking the other Seeker over. 

“Unknown query,” Clipper replied causing Starscream to still at the words. 

“Clipper?” 

“Unknown query,” Clipper repeated in a dull monotone. “Revise input.” 

Starscream stared. They couldn’t possibly- There were other explanations, he reasoned. 

“What is your na-designation?” Starscream said, trying to keep his tone calm. 

“Delta-1734.” Clipper replied and Starscream recoiled. 

Starscream barely recovered from his horror when he heard the sound of something behind him. He lashed out, grabbing the Autobot attempting to sneak up on him by his head. The Autobot yelped, attempting to aim his weapons at Starscream but Starscream used his free hand to tear out the guns before slamming him against the floor. 

“What did you do to them?” Starscream demanded and the Autobot laughed. 

“Your side uses them too, don’t act so self-righteous. They’re Vehicons-” The Autobot said only for Starscream to slam him against the ground again. 

“They’re Decepticons. And all Seekers are my Decepticons.” Starscream said, emphasizing his speech by squeezing the head of the Autobot. “What did you do to them?!” 

“Got inspired by our own propaganda.” The Autobot replied, sounding proud. “Virus wipes out everything and modifies them so they can’t develop the quirks your side pretends is sentience. Makes them useless in combat but we have plenty of other uses for them. It’s an elegant solution. This Vehicon, so stubborn and willful, was bent back to our will easily.” 

“His name was Clipper.” Starscream hissed. Before the Autobot could wonder what that meant, Starscream began slamming the Autobot against the floor repeatedly, other hand tearing at whatever he could reach. 

“Air Commander?” Stratus said, causing Starscream to stop. He became aware that the Autobot was little more than a pile of mangled, gurgling metal. He let go as Stratus came closer. “Slipstream arranged for transport to meet us here and the Vehicons in the cellblock are being looked after but… we found others in the maintenance tunnels. They’re not right.” 

“I am aware of the situation,” Starscream said, venting. “I need Circuit to come here and see what data he can collect. Fetch him.” 

“Of course,” Stratus said, but they didn’t move. “Sir, Clipper- is he like them? The ones in the tunnels?” 

“Yes,” Starscream replied, not having the energy to put it gently. “I…if there is anything we can do, we’ll need that data.” 

“I’ll get Circuit,” Stratus said, leaving the room. Starscream looked down at what was left of the Autobot with a sneer. He stomped on the exposed spark chamber before kicking off the lifeless body. 

“Hopefully Shockwave can find a solution,” Starscream said. 

“Revise input,” Clipper replied and Starscream wished he could kill the Autobot again. 

\- 

The news of what happened had torn through the Decepticon high command with lightning speed. Shockwave and other scientists were reassigned to study what the Autobots had done to the captured Vehicons exclusively. Knowing how Shockwave handled having a sole task to focus on, Starscream shouldn’t have been surprised when Shockwave had a solution within two solar cycles. 

“Using the data gathered, I’ve been able to create a program to protect all Vehicons from such a virus in the future. It will need continual maintenance of course. I do not see the Autobots giving up on this but the first version of this program will be ready for immediate distribution.” Shockwave said. Starscream watched the holograms of the other officers with interest when one of the Vehicon officers spoke up. 

“Given recent events, we would like some of our own to look over this program,” They said, accompanied by others voicing their agreement. Some of these officers would not normally be at such a high clearance meeting but when their futures were being discussed it was only right that they be here. 

There had already been too much decisions being made for them without their input. 

“Shockwave will have it made available to you. Also the Vehicon scientists who worked with him can explain it to any who require it.” Megatron said which seemed to placate the present officers. “Shockwave, you and your team have done excellent work.” 

“Praise is unnecessary, Lord Megatron,” Shockwave said, bowing his head. 

“What of those who had their systems infected already?” Starscream asked and Shockwave lowered his optic. 

“The virus is malicious, introduced via a “backdoor” placed by the Autobots when they built the Vehicons. It attacks the processors destroying everything replacing it with new coding similar to that found in machines.” Shockwave said, looking up but dimming his optic. “While the program my team and I worked on can prevent this, we cannot undo the damage.” 

“What will you do with them?” One of the Vehicon officers asked, turning their attention to Starscream. He froze, realizing everyone was looking to him. He looked to Megatron, who subtly nodded. 

“They are currently in our care. One of the affected, Clipper, was in my squadron and was captured giving those under my command and myself cover to get to safety.” Starscream said, holding onto the console in front of him for support. “But they are Vehicons which gives you the right to decide. The Autobots have turned their gaze back on Vehicons and we may face something like this again so we need to set up protocol.” 

“I see,” The Vehicon officer said with a nod. “We’ll discuss it amongst ourselves and decide as soon as possible.” 

“I’ll wait for your decision. This meeting is over,” Megatron said. 

\- 

_“What is your name?” Starscream said, stopping in front of one of the new Vehicon seekers._

_“Delta with some numbers,” The Vehicon said, with a dismissive wave. “Doesn’t really fit me.”_

_“That will hardly matter if you clip another aerialbot like you did today and crash,” Starscream said._

_“I know what I’m doing. Autobots ordered maneuvers like that all the time. You don’t survive as long as I have without getting good at it.” The Vehicon insisted._

_“We’re not the Autobots. I don’t need a clipper; I need you to be a Seeker,” Starscream said. To his surprise, the Vehicon’s wings fluttered._

_“I like that. Clipper,” He said. “I want that to be my name.” Starscream threw his hands up in the air in frustration._

_“You can go by whatever you wish but I don’t want to see you live up to your new name as a first course of action.”_

Starscream was pulled out of his memory when the lift stopped on the floor where the officers’ quarters were. When the doors opened, he remained still, dwelling on the memory. In truth, that conversation had probably been the longest he ever talked with Clipper outside of battle and Starscream knew those kinds of communications didn’t count as conversation. He hadn’t really known Clipper and he never would now. 

Starscream forcefully pressed the button to close the elevator and it began its descent. The doors opened on a lower level and the Vehicons waiting for the elevator took a step back. 

“Sir, is everything alright?” One of them said. 

“Just walking through,” Starscream assured, going passed the stunned Vehicons. He made his way down to where the Seekers’ quarters were, hearing sounds of talking and laughing. 

“And then he- Commander Starscream!” Divebomb said, wings flaring, when he walked in. “We were telling stories, about Clipper. We thought that might be the best way to remember him.” 

“And I thought I might join you.” Starscream said. 

“Oh- hey, Kilo, Firetrail, get him a seat!” Divebomb said, before Starscream could protest a container was pushed near him. Not wanting to cause any more of a scene than he already had with his arrival, he sat down. 

“So what were you saying before I came?” Starscream said. 

“I was telling everyone about when he and I were escaping the Autobots.” Divebomb explained. “We were pretty late on the whole defecting thing so they were trying to gather us up to deactivate us and he just transforms, flies and clips this scaffolding with these explosive materials underneath. Set the whole base ablaze and I never saw Autobots move so fast. He got more careful over time.” 

“I would hope I had some positive influence,” Starscream said and there was a laugh from the group. 

“He looked up to you even if he denied it,” Firetail said, as she reached over to pat Divebomb on the hand. “There was also the time Clipper and I got stuck behind enemy lines together. That was something else.” 

Starscream listened to the stories they told that night. He would never know Clipper but he had a squadron to lead and they were not just names to learn. Maybe he learned that too late and the cost of that lesson high. 

These Vehicons, they were his seekers and he would do everything in his power to protect them. 

**Author's Note:**

> This fic and the world of this Shattered Glass AU were inspired by talks I had with Editoress on tumblr and her works. A lot of it is based on the headcanons and characterizations I've come up with during those conversations. One of the main ideas of it is that Vehicons would have been created by the Autobots in this universe. Breakdown uncovers their sentience and aids a group escape to the Decepticons where they argue their sentience. Megatron, identifying their struggle with those of the Decepticons, makes a public announcement recognizing the sentience of the Vehicons. This declaration leads to the Vehicons leaving in droves to join the Decepticons. In this universe, the Decepticons recognized the possibility of Vehicons to be more than just solders or workers with some going into other fields and others even rising to officers in their field. So all that was influenced how I wrote this story and I hoped you enjoyed it.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Follow the Leader](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4354757) by [BetterBeMeta](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BetterBeMeta/pseuds/BetterBeMeta)




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